By Kieran Webber

The London-based union of Alejandro ‘Ale’ Romero (bass, vocals, Spain), João Seixas (guitar, vocals, Portugal),Leïla Seguin (flute, vocals, Corsica/France) and Joshua Oldershaw (drums, UK) harnesses an altogether fluid, rhythmic and exquisitely melodic energy as colourful and evocative as their band name, forged from different strands of DNA, primarily bossa-nova, Afro-pop and Western folk and rock.

This unification of cultures has created a beautiful mix of sound that explodes through their music, their latest LP “Sugar Now” is but a stepping stone for the band’s potential, with such diversity and love thrown into their music it is no wonder the final product is a splendid listen.

Read the review for “Sugar Now” by clicking here

Cristobal and the Sea are still very much a young band and have a long road ahead of them which I am sure they will cruise through, we wanted to know the people behind the music and what makes them tick we spoke cultural diversement to politics to what we can expect from the band in future.

It is known that as a band you make up several cultures and this has helped create a beautiful and unique sound, is there any particular cultural differences or quirks that you pick up from each-other or notice ?

There are some, for example, in eating habits, how one deals with public nudity,
preferences for the brand of shower gel… The list is exhaustive. But we can sum it, in general terms, like this: Josh (British) is overly polite. Alejandro (Spanish) is overly loud. Joao (Portuguese) is overly lazy. Leila (French) is overly moody.

Now as a beautifully diverse band such as yourselves do you have an opinion on the way that England is heading in regards to the EU and immigration if so what is it?

We sure do! Most of us, in the band, have grown up in many different countries and cultures; Spain, Portugal, France, England,Egypt,Morocco,Luxembourg, Corsica…We feel that diversity is always more beneficial to society than it is harmful. It encourages curiosity and gives people the chance to experience different things outside of what they are normally accustomed to. More efforts should be done in England and in the rest of Europe to welcome people in better conditions and to counter negative perceptions, amalgams and stereotypes spread in the media since the beginning of the refugee crisis. Every human being deserves a certain amount of dignity in life.

Is any of your music politically motivated?

Not really. We all have some political convictions but they don’t usually influence our music.

Through your music this an impressive amount of instruments used do you guys have a particular instrument you prefer?

We don’t use that many instruments. There are however many instruments we would like to be able to play: Kora, Mbira, Marimba…. The list is endless.

When writing your music do you have a particular method or way you like to proceed or is it something that is spur of the moment?

It can happen in both of those ways. Sometimes, it happens when we’re just jamming. Other times, a melody pops in our head, when we’re taking a walk, or something. And other times, we actually sit down to write something from scratch.

What are your individual influences in music?

Mostly everything… Folk, Indie, Pop, Techno, House, Ambient, African music, Latin music,Jazz, Blues… You name it!

Does this ever cause a clash during recording?

Not really, we usually work in a really democratic manner!

What was the idea behind the video for ‘Fish Eye’ and how did that come about?

A mystical party! Well, the song mentions dancing around a lake and our friend Elliott Arndt thought it would be fun shooting it that way. And it really was!

Watch the video for “Fish Eye” below

I also really like your artwork out of interest who does it and why did you decide on that particular piece to represent the album?

The person in charge of all our artwork is a friend of ours called Elliott Arndt. We think he’s super talented and, because he knows us well, we thought he would be the right person to be in charge of our visual aesthetic.

If there is anyone you could/would collab with dead or alive who would it be?

Madlib.

Last but not least now the album is out what are your plans for the rest of the year and next year?

We have a very busy end of the year! We are supporting Jose Gonzalez around Europe and This is the Kit in the UK, then we are heading off to Germany for our first ever headline tour! Hopefully more touring will follow throughout 2016! We are also already working on some new material!